Hello Everyone and welcome to my Blog 
I am Rafael, 29 years old (supposed to turn 30 this year) am born, raised and currently living in the german part of Switzerland. To all Americans: no, we have no ice bears and naked, blonde, super models walking down the street. That is Sweden.
If you wanna know more about Switzerland, ask Oprah (or better not...she is kinda poor!) :)
A little bit about my self as far as poker goes. I have played pretty much everything that you can play. Limit hold'em, PLO CG, NL CG, 9man Turbo SNG, 6max Turbo/Hyper SNG [...] but I never could stick to anything. That is most likely due to my biggest leak, which is based on my mentality. You see, I am not good at "comitting", so, apparently, I am always looking for an excuse to play something else. If I wanna quit 6max CG, I will make a calculation that shows me that 6max Hyper SNG have the higher hourly potential as far as $ goes. If the 6max Hyper SNG go bad, it is because I tire out to fast while playing them. You name it.
Hyper-HU SNG are kinda what I love. I just kinda love the heads to heads action. Enter the ring and go head to head with your opponent. I like that, which is why I will start with HU SNG (Hyper) once again.
As far as Hyper HU SNG go, I have studied the game a lot. But I did not do it the optimal way - IMO. But more about that later, or on special request :p
As the biggest single influence I will - likely forever - see Cog Dissonance, who trained me in Turbo and Hyper-Turbo HU SNG (4 hours / courses) and gave me a great way to see actually why I should do what I am supposed to do. All tough I booked his coaching in early 2012, the lessons still are not forgotten - even tough I did adjust a little bit to my 'own style'. :)
I will start out, playing the $7 on Pokerstars again, in order to get in shape again and then bank roll myself for the $15 hyper hu sng (I do not like to play $7 or below, because I cannot take those levels seriously, as far as hourly goes etc. pp).
While I want to make some $ with Heads Up Poker eventually, I am not in need of doing so, since I have a good paid full time job.
Long story short. I also played some games today - 2 tableing on Pokerstars. Did not run so well (run under ev ;().
All jokes aside....I had a match against a Supernova today. I dominated him like 7 times and he always got me on the river. Fun fact: I won the match by rivering him in the last hand (KTo vs KK - i made the Flush, lol).
This surprises me => I always assumed you were a midstakes reg at hyper HUSNGs.
Anyway, best of luck with your goals :)
You only gave me midstakes reg?
I need to work harder! So, thank you for the luck of the irish
All tough...I all ready believe "beliving into the cards" and of course in burning my hand (but that one is really hard achive every day).
Hi.
Today I did not sleep very well and had kinda rough day at work. Just tooooooooooo many things to do today. Well...what should one do? =)
This is why I kept the session kinda short. Still, there would have been some nice achievments. For one I did finally realize to take my time (when it helps ofc). Still. There is bad news. I run under EV. Again. :(
Hi.
Dude 1 buyin under EV over 13 tourneys...
Bad news? Lol.
Are you trolling?
Barrin is always trolling/always not trolling.
I thought he was midstakes too, but maybe he used to be?
In any case, rough day at work likely = disappointment, rather than the 1 buyin.
Heyhey....if you do not want the money, you can transfer it to me!
In the end of 2011 / beginning of 2012 I did play up to $30 hyper-hu SNG and $60 Turbo. But only for a short time. In late spring of 2012 I had to cash out most of my BR due to personal reasons.
Regarding the EV. I find those graphs very interesting. I believe that most players are not useing the variance calculator (which btw is a tool that I LOVE), from hu sng, the way it should be use - IMO. If you simulate over 20 games you will get those graphs. You will see the *real* stuff the stuff that happens to you in the short run and isn't the short run what attacks you mentally the most when you are playing?
Ofc...if I put 10'000 games and 4% roi into the variance calculator there might be 538 short run results up and downs where your EV is incompatible with your real winnings, but one thing stays the same: the graph still is takeing about half my screen. Except now I have no chance to see the little downs and ups. The line, eventually, just goes up and one my think: niceeeeeeeeeee.
But, if the short term results attack me mentally, I will never achieve those 4% roi because I will tilt out and as some of you might know, one mistake by tilt and a really really stupid shove and / or call can kill off the winnings from many many many and much more games.
Hi.
I think people overestimate the importance of EV graphs.
Why?
Equity adjusted graphs do not show the EV of your play vs a villain (or population range).
WTF you talking about cdon?
Equity adjusted graphs adjust for the your equity in pots which end up all in or showndown.
For example if you get all in preflop with AA vs KK on first hand of hyper you win +500 chips (ignoring blind differential & rake).
In this showdown you have ~82% equity.
Your equity adjusted EV graph would show your chip EV as ((0.82 * 2 * 500) - 500) = +320 chips
This doesn't tell you the EV of the play of your entire range vs villain's entire range at the decision node.
Now take a common spot: c/r jamming strong draws (FD + OESD) vs wide openers + frequent cbetters @ 20-25BB on the flop.
Assuming villain will call us off with top pair or better you can work through the calculaltion to find this is a +EV play.
HOWEVER, a large part of the expectation comes from the fold equity.
EV graphs do not account for this.
If you make this play, and run into the top of villains range and he holds to show down, your EV graph will take a turn down.
But does this mean it was -EV play?
Hell no, its plays like these where good players find their exploitative edges.
Should you care about EV graphs at all?
Yes, but with a caveat in my opinion: understand what EV graphs actually show and how that is different from the EV of how you play your hands vs villain(s) range(s).
In equilibrium, EV graphs are increasingly useful the more your expectation is derived from pot equity.
In analysing your game to find leaks, consider adding an additional filter.
For example, hands which you called an all in.
Hands where you call an all in, all that matters is your pot equity vs an opponent's range => none of your expectation comes from fold equity.
Also if you're a player that never semi-bluffs or bluffs then the EV graphs will be more meaningful for you.
But if you never bluff you're probably leaving a lot of expectation on the table (against all but the biggest calling stations).
Ironically looking to EV adjusted graphs to justify your play is (in my opinion) still being too results oriented to make the best play vs villain(s) ranges / tendencies.
Barrin crushing fish?
If you have some time, post some hands where you maximise value vs fish during your quest (I'm thinking overbet jams vs stations or hero call downs vs spewtards).
Hope you're running good :)
I certainly am not the person who would overestimate the EV-Line. And I am by no means the person who would read anything out of 15 games.
Still, challenging the EV line and still give 100% credit to math seems not right. Every time you do a session review, you might wanna give put your opponent on a range. But how would you know if this range is ever going to be right? You cannot, because there are too many options to consider. If if you had a sample size of 100k hands from your opponent, it would be almost impossible to consider factors like flow of the game, his counter adjusting and the mental side (tilt) of him. You are working with average stats and therefore it is impossible to achiev a GTO strategy. This of course that not mean that sessoin analysis are useless and / or that math is wrong all the time (imo it isn't), it simply means that everything has to be viewed from the wrong angle.
Regarding posting hands; I did not use fancy plays like overbetting up till now. There simply has been no reason yet. The $7 players are so terrible that you just can get a huge egg preflop by knowing when to steal and when to fold.
Hi.
This thread can be closed.
Ever since sharkystrator is not running anymore and it is an incredible hassle to get lobbies (because other players can use the software), I am not going to waste my time anymore with a type of SNG that is dominated by a software - rather than the players. As a consequence I will return to grind 6max SNGs again.
Hi.
I returned to 6max hypers and have been doing lots of theory in the last couple of weeks.
Since I am self exclude on Stars (180 days exclusion will be over 23rd June!) I am currently playing on 888.
While I am bankrolled for the $30 6max hyper sng I have not played 6max SNG in over 8 months and since the strucutre of 888 is the most similar one to pokerstars I am currently playing those on the $5 and $10.
The rake is crazy high (7%), but then again; I wont stay a minute longer then necessary anyways and the players are crazy bad. How bad you are asking me?
This crazy bad:
***** 888poker Hand History for Game 593747036 *****
$105/$210 Blinds No Limit Holdem - *** 08 06 2014 16:07:17
Tournament #58948382 $5 + $0.35 - Table #1 (Real Money)
Seat 9 is the button
Total number of players : 3
Seat 4: gobledegoop ( $825 )
Seat 7: karan_m81 ( $2,174 )
Seat 9: Hero ( $1 )
gobledegoop posts small blind [$105]
karan_m81 posts big blind [$210]
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to Hero [ 7d, 6s ]
Hero folds
gobledegoop raises [$720]
karan_m81 calls [$615]
** Dealing flop ** [ 4h, Kd, 2h ]
** Dealing turn ** [ Ac ]
** Dealing river ** [ 3d ]
** Summary **
gobledegoop shows [ Jc, Qd ]
karan_m81 shows [ 5c, 7c ]
karan_m81 collected [ $1,650 ]
In the previous hand I lost all but one chip with AQs vs 99. In this hand I was like: what the hell...why not auto ai?!
Never would I had imagined that he would push QJo.
Anyhow; the bubble bursted and I managed to double up in the next hand but then evantually lost my last 2 chips.
/e: Variance is a biatch!
Hi.
Just found out that you have your own blog also. Nice. Why did you move to the 6max hypers? In your first post you wrote that you can't commit yourself and always have your 'reasonings' to switch to other formats so I am kinda interested :)
Anyways....Viel Glück an den Tischen ;)
Well, as far as SNG goes, I started out playing 9-10 player turbos. Later switched to 6max SNG - once the format became popular - and then switched to 6max hypers.
In conclusion I might have spent 10times as much time playing 6 to 9/10 player SNG then I spent on hu sng. Why? I simply feel more attracted to those. With more players, you have another dynamic. It also enables me to play a much higher volume (6 to 12 tables at a time).
I still play hu sng from time to time, but much more fun, meaning; that I spend much more time on studying 6max hyper turbos.
Danke, dir auch viel Erfolg an den Tischen ;-)
Hi.
Alright I understand. If you don't mind send me your skype nick via pn so I can add you if you want :-)
I have sent you my skype id by email.
Well. What's new? Today my 180 days self-exlusion finally ended and I was able to play on Pokerstars again. Sharky and Baby-Sharky (also known as key-chain Sharky) have been watching over me. Sadly I did not receive the Anti-Stress-Sharky yet. But I ordered it quite a while ago...well maybe it is swimming agains the strom...
However, I played a couple of $7 6max hyper HT. Still many leaks to cover. I did 3table and was really surprised how calm I was. It was very nice feeling.
Wired thing: I could had sworn I was down in money.
Hi.
Very well....who from you guys stole my money and left me behind with just the EV?! I know it was one of you...
Those are $7 6max HT Sngs with which I got back into playing. Will start with $15 today or tomorrow.
Hi.
Seeing how, understandbly, a husng community has very little interest in a 6max Blog - I will end this with posting my graph of the current "year" (23th July untli today... to be more accurate :P)
Best of luck at the tables!
Hi.
We're reading man! We're here, keep updating us.
Gotta admit; I am kinda surprised.
But, very well, upon request I will you kept updated.
But now I gonna leave --> going up in to the mountains and relaxing on pool side until Wednesday!
Hi.
I did not play lots of volume this week (or should I say; almost none?). However, I did a bit of theory and was wondering if I were much or just merely more focused when I am playing 6 tables only. So I did a single session.
Well, I guess 6tabling it is gonna be from now on - so much less variance!
/e: ranked #13th in the 30k weekly for $105. With 5th biggest stack, I lost all but 0.5bb with AQ vs J8s. Cannot complain though, since I sucked out quite a bit myself. Payed $1.6 (100 fpp), so I guess that is alright. But still very sad, since payout structure is extremly top heavy.
Fun fact; I usually do not play this tournament (I believe I never played it before), and the only reason I registered was because it started shortly before the monthly $100k Goldstar+ VIP freeroll (busted in 3rd blind level with AQo vs KK)
At least I had a good theme music for the freeroll:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCIrPJ6SBl4
Hi.
Well; the month is done and here is my monthly graph:
1.1% ROI is not that satisfactory to be honest. Then again; I am well aware that I still have plenty of leaks to fix. I wish I could have fixed some of them this week - but I decided to go for Platinum star and therefore had to grind a couple of hundred games. And I did it! ;-)
I guess it was really worth it. It is about gaining 25% more rakeback or not then with Goldstar. That is quite a difference. Besides it looks much more cool... :P
I also played some cash game: +$34
As well as some MTT: +$35
Having had myself self-exluded and played no 6max hypers on Pokerstars for almost 7 months I can tell that the games got tougher = more regulars. Then again, lots of regulars have plenty of leaks.
I also find it very tough grinding those things. 9tabling really is 'hell' to me. As you see above i have about a 50% top 3 rating. It is not rare that I play 3 heads up and bubbles at the same time lol.
Hi.
Yeah, a new month; and the HU Hypers are back in my playing list.
But there are also more news. After I had to grind quite a lot at the end of July, I had little time to theory on 6max. Now I switched my HUD completely and put some time into countering regulars (there are easily 2 to 3 regulars on each table - some of them have big leaks of course). Yesterday I had a huge winning day and today I lost in 6max hypers (reducing my ROI to still about twice what eventually is expected).
Anyhow, I got tired of only playing 6 max and played some Hyper HU; I simply forgot how much fun they were ;-)
To be honest I also did not run into lot of good opponents. I was actually surprised how little good regulars there were. There was one guy who also played several tables who was quite good and I had my fair share of problems with. Then again; I have not used chadders hud in like 9 months and was thinking that the one stat was for his preflop fold percentag (it actually was the flatting stat lol )
Here is the graph of the month up till now.
Hi.
What do you think of those new 3max Jackpot SNGs? Think you'll play them when they come to Stars?
I am currently testing those on FTP. In my opinion they have a huge potential, simply because they are super-fishy. Then again, if you are HU player who table-selects with Sharkystrator and avoid the strong players, how much more fishy can it get for you?
In order to beat them one will need to play a huge sample size. If you are willing to play this huge sample size AND also are very good in 3handed play, you can make some money for sure. You also need to play for victory at all costs; as I have been told, once a big jackpot table appears, players are trying to deal the price money immediately. I don't think you can compensate all those hours you put in and played for $20 jackpot for your $10 entry in a 3handed game, with making deals when the real money is right in front of you.
Hi.
rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr says the Tiger.....! Unfortunately I have know idea what sound a shark does. Anyways; today he arrived; who you are asking me? Well, the one they call Shark Soft Toy.
He is completing my Army of Sharks. Led by Sharky, second in command is Sharky-Chainholder, who broke free from the Chain when i not only used him at own, while playing but also took him to regular work...he was all like "I am focusing on Poker!" - well if only I had this kind of motivation.. xD
The shark-too-bully yeaaaaaah......he probably is the one I touched the least.
But the new Sharky Soft Toy really does not deserve the name.....it has teeths which are kinda sharp ...and is bigger in height (if you put him in the right way ofc) then Sharky.
I also received a black chip hat as well as some card decks today. Unfortunately the order missed out on Vanessa Russo. I bought the concierce service for that, but apparently she is much more expensive. I wrote the support "if she comes without the hot pants - would it be enough?" Well, I take this as a no. :[
Hi.
No – I did not go broke J - and yet; it is time to say goodbye.
I have started playing online-poker in 2006 and I have played about any game there is (NLO, PLO, STT, MTT, MT-SNG etc. pp…) and I have enjoyed every damn second of it (well this is not completely true, I always hated „playing“ SSS).
Being a very passionate person, I could never just invest a „little“ time into Poker. No, it had to be huge amounts. Why? For me, personally, Poker has never been about making the most money possible or having the greatest Graph there is…for me it was always a challenge to understand and outthink my opponent.
Eventually, I have decided that Poker would take away to much time from my personal life. This is why, on my 30th Birthday, 28th December 2013, I have selfexcluded myself from playing on the big pokersites (FTP & Pokerstars) for 180 days; after all I had new challenges in front of me and would start studying in April 2014.
Always wondering, if my decision was correct or simply to forceful and – maybe – somewhat „childish“…I had simply no time to think about it. For me it was simply „fine“ while „not being great“.
However, if you have doubts, life accepts the challenge and makes the seed of doubt rise by slapping your face.
And so life did. 10th February 2014, at 6:48 p.m., the most important person, the person which I admired and loved the most, my father, died. He only aged 58 years old 3 months before it happend and he had no health issues at all. It all went down so fast.
Despite the loss, it seriously hit me, how everything can be so fast? I have pushed back my Studying and decided to give another shot to poker. Just thinking; YOLO…..maybe my life would be more exciding this way?
Eventually, I have found my answer, 22nd August 2014. While I still might play live a little, for online-poker there is no more room in my life. You could say that I have been kinda addicted. Not in a way that I lost money or anything. But just addicted by the possibilities. In the process of self-reflection, I have figured that it would hinder me more thant it would me fort he plans fo my future.
Like I mentioned before; I am very passionate person, and even during my 180 days self-exclusion, I did a lot of preparation for the time I would not be self-excluded anymore. As of today, this won’t be a problem anymore; my online-pokeraccounts have been permanently shut down.
I wanna thank everybody who ever had some kind of influence on my poker-life and wish you all the best in poker as well as in your personal life.
Cheers
Rafael
Hi.
sorry to hear about your father. i wish you all the best for your future endeavours.
I'm sorry to hear all that Barrin. Wish you all the best in the future!
Sorry to hear that Barrin. Good luck with whatever you pursue (any ideas?).
The opportunity cost of playing great poker is that you sacrifice other hobbies/passions. At least you took on the challenge of poker and hopefully are a better person for it. Good luck with your future interests.